pay as you go meter help please?!

scoopster_2

I have had a pay as you go meter fitted to my house as i had an outstanding bill owed to scottish gas a warrant was issued, i paid by weekly payment but wasnt paying enough and the bill just kept on mounting, thus they came and fitted me with this meter, i have never worked or used one in my life before and i am really struggling.

I am currently unemployed and on jsa, i have been asked to repay at £4 a week to the meter the outstanding bill, on top of my gas, i was as was told using around £20 a week on gas this time last year, it was on almost constantly, I have topped up my gas 4 times since it was in place an initial 10 pounds which was repaid back to scottish gas emergency credit, which i was never informed about and the further 3 seperate ten pounds, a repayment £4 was taken as well as other debts and an emergency credit that i accidently used i, i have £ 10 95 left in my usage, with still another £4 to come off this.

with what i have used for gas and it has been very little in 2 weeks it used up around £4 to 5 pounds and it has only been on for about 4 hours its working out at £1 an hour for gas is this right?

If so, It would mean that i would have to top up around £50 to £60 a week to have at least a good minimum of heat in my home, I only get £105 a week jsa. this would mena i have nothing left.

please help

Wywth

scoopster wrote: »

I have had a pay as you go meter fitted to my house as i had an outstanding bill owed to scottish gas a warrant was issued, i paid by weekly payment but wasnt paying enough and the bill just kept on mounting, thus they came and fitted me with this meter, i have never worked or used one in my life before and i am really struggling.

I am currently unemployed and on jsa, i have been asked to repay at £4 a week to the meter the outstanding bill, on top of my gas, i was as was told using around £20 a week on gas this time last year, it was on almost constantly, I have topped up my gas 4 times since it was in place an initial 10 pounds which was repaid back to scottish gas emergency credit, which i was never informed about and the further 3 seperate ten pounds, a repayment £4 was taken as well as other debts and an emergency credit that i accidently used i, i have £ 10 95 left in my usage, with still another £4 to come off this.

with what i have used for gas and it has been very little in 2 weeks it used up around £4 to 5 pounds and it has only been on for about 4 hours its working out at £1 an hour for gas is this right?

If so, It would mean that i would have to top up around £50 to £60 a week to have at least a good minimum of heat in my home, I only get £105 a week jsa. this would mena i have nothing left.

please help

I may have misunderstood your post, but I think what you are saying is you have credited your meter with a total of £40 over the last 2 weeks.

£10 went on emergency credit, so you won't need to pay that again (unless you use it again)

£4 per week is collected towards your debt. (only 1 weeks collected so far)

You still have £10.95 credit on the meter.

Is that correct?

If so, then by my reckoning you have used £40 - £10.95 - £4 = £25.05 in two weeks or about £12.50 a week. (not including your debt repayment)

That's not bad considering how cold it's been the last two weeks.

chris1973

its working out at £1 an hour for gas is this right?

Depends on many factors, for example how many radiators you are heating, what your wall Thermostat and any boiler (water temperature) thermostat is set at and how old / efficient your boiler is.

Any other Gas Appliances? - Gas Fire, Gas Cooker?

How about hot water is this heated by the same Gas Boiler?.

Obviously the fewer radiators you have running, the less Gas the boiler will use as the hot water demand on it will be decreased. So I recommend just using the radiator in the room you occupy during the day (ideally the one with the central heating wall thermostat in), and then turn any radiator on in the bathroom an hour or so before you wash / use the shower etc

You can use an Electric Blanket during the night as an alternative to heating a bedroom for long periods. Unless you use the Bedroom during the day?

SwanJon

The gas meter will take the £4 from when you top up each week (for some reason the week begins on a Wednesday). If you miss a week then it will try to catch up from the credit on the front on the meter.

If you have TRVs on your radiators, turn down the ones in the room you don't use.

Also worth seeing if you can get any help through grants - http://charisgrants.com/

Did they leave any instructions on the meter? You can see all the information on the meter (balance remaining, weekly payment etc).

scoopster_2

dont have any other gas appliances, my boiler is a combi, so use it for hotwater, i dont have a thermostat or should i? i have been using around 12 50 a week but thats my heating only on for just over 1 hour a day, ideally i would like it on about a minimum of 5 hours a day each day at the moment working out thats 5 pounds a day im spending, 25 a week thast what i was spending before the meter was fitted but my gas was on almost 24/7

macman

Yes, you do need a room 'stat or programmer to regulate the overall temp properly. And preferably TRV's on the rads.
There is no need to have the CH on '24/7' (i.e. all night). Doing so will probably double your consumption in the winter.
If you quote some kWh consumption figures, rather than ££'s spent, more more meaningful help can be given.
A PPM costs the same as standard tariff, so the most you can be paying over an online discount tariff on a credit meter is 4 to 6%.

Wywth

Whilst a typical discount a supplier will offer for agreeing to pay monthly by DD is about 6%, additional discounts or a lower tariff may apply if you opt for another tariff (especially an online one) rather than the standard tariff when you have a credit meter.

Martin suggest the average user on a standard tariff paying about £1200 a year could typically save £250-£300 by switching i.e. saving of up to 25% on average
(although some of this may be as a result of changing supplier as well)